Wakening Lair: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Cooperative, Variable Player Powers, Dice Rolling
Player Age: 14+ Player Count: 2 - 6 PlayersTime to Play: 30 - 40 Minutes
Game Designer: Mike Richie
Player Age: 14+
Game Designer: Mike Richie
Objective:
Throughout Wakening Lair, players are delving deep into a 12-room dungeon. As play continues the dungeon will fill with troublesome monsters, although none more horrific than the Monstrous Terror. At a certain point, the card that brings forth the monstrous terror will be revealed from the monster deck and will awaken the beast of the dungeon. The dungeon will slowly begin to collapse onto itself as the terror pursues the players. Will you be able to effectively deploy your arsenal to slay the monstrous terror and win the game?
Game Anatomy:
Rooms:
These rooms will make up the dungeon board that players are facing. The value of each room will dictate how many enemies spawn when the room is revealed and each room will also have a room advantage. If a player has a matching attack type for that room they will gain one added value to all their dice rolls no matter which weapon they use to attack. This makes enemies easier to slay.
Hero Cards:
Each hero card has an archetype on the top left, two attack types down the left side, an ability in the centre and a health track going from the top to the bottom of the middle section. Whenever monsters attack the characters they will damage the player starting from the top of the health track and must roll damage equal to or higher than the defence number.
Monster Cards:
These monsters will fill the rooms as the dungeon unfolds. Each monster has different health values on the top of its card that a player will need to meet or exceed the values from left to right to defeat the enemy. Each monster also has a weakness. If the attacking player has a weapon that meets this weakness they can press the attack. This means that if they are successful in landing an attack they can attack again as a free action.
Treasures:
Treasures are items you win whenever you defeat a monster. Each treasure has an option on how to equip to your character, the weapon side and the magic side. The magic side has an effect such as an extra action every turn or being able to re-roll your dice once. The weapon side is a new weapon you can equip for your adventurer. Each weapon has a coloured circle and a weapon type. If neither of these matches your character then the weapon will just use one dice when attacking but if one matches then two dice will be rolled per that attack. If all match then it will be three dice every time you attack.
In the treasure deck there is also mimics that are creatures that will make you roll a die and resolve a negative effect when entering their square or upon reveal. Resurrection scrolls are also found in the treasure deck that will resurrect someone when they die, thereby preventing the loss of the game.
Monstrous Terror:
There are six unique monstrous terrors, each with its own health boxes and special abilities. These are the large monsters hidden in the depths of the dungeon. The goal is to defeat them before they exit the dungeon, otherwise, they win if they escape or defeat the heroes. Each monstrous terror board comes with an attack type that cannot be used to fight them, a weakness and recessed places for their health.
Setup:
- Shuffle and place all 12 rooms face-down in a vertical line then reveal the bottom room face-up.
- Shuffle the monstrous terrors and place the chosen terror face-down in the 12th room.
- Select one hero per character and place their tokens in the first room.
- Shuffle the treasure cards and place them in a deck to the side.
- Place within reach the dice, effect markers and damage markers.
- Shuffle the monster cards and place 8 in a face-down stack. Then place the monstrous terror awakens card on top then add the other 16 shuffled monster cards to the stack.
How to Play:
The flow of the game has players taking turns in order with the enemy AI responding at the start (spawning) and end of each player's turn (attacking). A turn is made up of three stages; awakening a room, player actions and getting attacked.
Awaken a Room:
At the start of every turn the active player will roll two dice. The room along the dungeon matching the total rolled amount will be revealed and will spawn monsters equal to the denoted value. If this room is already revealed then one more monster will be added to that room until a maximum number of three has been reached. If the number 12 is rolled, nothing happens and players get a rest from spawning monsters that turn.
Actions:
On a player's turn, they can do three actions in any mix of the available actions. The player can move any amount of rooms that are adjacent and awakened on their turn but must end their action if they move into a room with monsters or that hasn’t been awakened. To land here will reveal that room and spawn monsters. Another action has a player activating their special heroic ability. Characters that can heal for their heroic ability are particularly useful. If a player shares a room with a monster they can also attack, rolling 1-3 dice based on their weapon attached. If the player rolls the value equal to or above the leftmost uncovered number on the monster, they successfully allocate that dice as damage. One really good roll may even finish a monster straight away with all dice being allocated as damage. If the monster is weak against your weapon and you land a hit, you can press the attack as a free action.
Get Attacked:
At the end of the player's turn, they are attacked by the monsters. This attack is made up of dice equal to each health left from all the enemies in that room. Any value that is rolled equal to or exceeding the value on your topmost health spot will be a hit to your character.
Monstrous Terror Awakens:
When the terror awakens card is revealed from the monster deck the game will now change into a race. The monstrous terror will be revealed in the 12th room, any remaining rooms become awakened (the monsters don't spawn) and the ‘awaken room’ stage of a turn no longer happens. Instead, at the end of every turn the monstrous terror will move down one room, taking all monsters and heroes that share its space with them. If the players cannot defeat this terror before it escapes the dungeon, they lose. So hopefully your characters are properly geared as they now have a maximum of 12 turns before the monstrous terror escapes.
Final Thoughts:
- A fun dungeon-crawl for any level of player.
- You need a healer on your team.
- There is a certain time that the game will run for.
- Not too much variety in treasures.
- Interesting character and terror abilities.
- Great production.
Wakening Lair compacts the dungeon-crawl experience into a fast, engaging and challenging 30-minute adrenaline rush. The game could use more variety in its treasures and monster types but it makes up for that with different challenging terrors and a wide-ranging cast of heroes. If you are looking for a gateway experience into the genre of dungeon-crawl games and don't need the grand miniature fanfare then I highly recommend this game. Wakening Lair encapsulates the dungeon-crawl experience by giving players the thrill of improving their character and fighting off the challenging behemoth. All while doing it all in a quick and compact experience that will keep veteran and new gamers engaged.
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